I don't know why but I'm finding just the right kind of gifts in my Christmas' sock last few years. It's probably my conversations with kids, when I ask them what kind of gifts they would like to get, that my wishes are being heard of too. There were books and something else in my sock this year. Biography of Alexander the Great by Peter Green and "Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden. The second one is widely known so I won't describe it but I will love to confront it with my memories, as I've read that one in English some time ago. "Alexander the Great" was written at the beginning at 70., but it doesn't show. I'm not specialist in macedonian's history, I don't know if the Green's theories are still valid or not but believe me - this book reads like a good adventure story, it's full of anecdotes, little side-stories, explanations, etc. Very, very good read and amazingly good study of ancient politics.

Last gift was a major one for me - Dremel 4000 set. I wanted such microtool for a long time, it was used first time yesterday helping me to assembly Egyptian 15 mm chariot. I still have to buy some additional tools but results so far are very satisfying. It helps immensly with filing and drilling. I'm very glad with it so far.

As I have had few hours of relatively free time in the pre-Christmas heat, I've decided to paint last foot element for my New Kingdom Egyptian DBA army. I wanted to make this element representing Libyan mercenaries in pharaoh's service but - as I don't have any suitable miniatures - I've decided to use standard native Egyptians, bought as "spares" with rest of the army miniatures. Fortunately, in Egyptian army from Quadesh period there were quite a few native Egyptian light infantry units. My interpretation of this element is relatively historical I think. The are two javelinmen and archer on the base grouped together. Archer is converted from spearmen miniature. I have had four such miniatures but decided to not use them at all as spear was casted with the body and closely resembled very soft and bended spaghetti. So, after some cutting and bending I've got passable archer pose. All that was left to do was to add quiver made from greenstuff and some belt to hang it. Archer holds small axe or mace in hand - it is accurate with historical sources too. Javelinmen could - theoretically - have quivers for javelins too, but as this piece of equipment was carried to the battle by special bearers, I've decided to not make tem.

Painting... Well, let's say that this army is definitely middle level table-top painted, and element visible here represents the same level;) This warband is the last foot unit of my NKE army, all what is left to paint are two chariots...

A tak wygląda cała część piesza armii Nowego Państwa Egipskiego.

And here it is a group photo of whole foot part of New Kingdom Egyptian army.

Last element of Norman DBA army made from Baueda miniatures produced so far. Next element or two elements of horsemen will be built using miniatures shown previously, next ones will be made from yet-unrealeased poses of milites charging with spears holded over heads. Element next to this note is a 3Cav unit, I can field max two of such elements in III/51 army. One instead of Knights, second instead of Knights or Light Horsemen. Miniatures represents poorer horsemen, later known as serjants or squires I think. They don't have chainmail hauberks, armour consists of leather or padded jerkins. I like those miniatures the most from the current Baueda range - I think they look the best. As I wanted to show that they are not the wealthiest part of Norman society, I have painted them in similar, natural colors, without ornaments, with simple shield devices and with similar colors on the shields.

Eleventh issue of "Helikoptery świata" collection will cover one of the most recognized modern helicopters, American AH-64D Apache Longbow. Ready-made diecast model of this craft in 1:72 scale in American colors will be bundled with the magazine.

Next tutorial shows how to make your own static grass tufts - looking as good as ones bought in the stores. Static grass aplicator is necessary I'm afraid but I think it is really nice set of instructions.

Another tutorial, this time something for all Necron fans out there. New codex is out, new models are in stores, time to paint them and time to impress your opponents in a truly unique way - pimp your Monolith.

Something to look at now. Dynamic dioramas website for a start. Large collection of detailed dioramas of various military "things" - from ancients to modern, different scales, different periods, different stories. One thing in common - well worth to see. All dioramas built by Joseph Neumeyer, he is professionally building scale replicas used as movie props too. Picture next to this note is taken from this site.

One more curio - Tweeter account which in real-time posts notes about things which happened on this very day 72 years ago... Author would like to continue such posts till the end of II World War. He posts about events both widely known and relatively unknown. Great idead and very interesting read for all history enthusiasts out there...

I'm painting for a long time, more then 20 years. After first few months of painting with artist acrylics I received a gift from a friend of mine - about 20 used GW paints. Company produced back then paints sold in round bottles closed with a simple lid. I cursed this lid sometimes as it have had tendency to stuck in dried paint and was very hard to pry open. Well, it happens. After all this years I still have some of those paints. After 20 years. Some of them are pretty thick nowadays, still perfectly usable. Some of them I managed to use till the very bottom of the bottle, some just dried but most are still standing next to my desk. Then there were six sided bottles. My paints from this "era" are 12-15 years old I think. Some of them are thick but yet again, perfectly usable. The biggest problem I have with them are lids. They are made from some other plastic then earlier lids and crack easily nowadays. But even cracked they still protect paint inside from drying. Then there were two other bottles, advertised as "newest megahipersuperdupertechnology-in-preventing-your-paints-being-dry". Well, strange but I don't have the first of them at all anymore, second kind is still with me but in rapidly lowering numbers. But I remember well cursing lids falling off from this bottles. And now, we have something really, really bad. Shitty - one can't describe them in more gentle words - little bottles made in such a way to speed up drying up of paint. Well, professional paints in yet more professional bottles. Some of these paints are thicker then my old paints being new, straight from the shop rack. Some of them were dry when i bought them, but - as they were from Foundation range, I can understand that, as they have a lot more pigment inside. Considering low quantity of paint in current GW bottles, subpar quality of them and relatively high cost I try to use Vallejo more and more. Of course, it will be a long time when I switch to Vallejo exclusively and somehow I'm pretty sure my oldest Citadel paints will still be with me then...

I have finished painting of riflemen from 95th Rifles for Strategie forum competition few days ago, last miniature is shown below. Painting was done in exactly the same fashion as before, this time I just used Silflor tufts from the very beginning, saving myself a frustration of working with Fredericus Rex products. Few words about title and - connected with title large (large for me, at least) number of tufts visible on the bases. Riflemen purpose on the battlefield was skirmishing. Protecting own lines from skirmishers of enemy, some sniping, etc. Their weapon was more accurate then Brown Bess musket (great example of long service weapon, by the way), they were much better shooters then ordinary infantryman too. They were taught to use terrain to their advantage, to shoot from various positions. Something like XIX century marksmen. Taking into consideration how stiff were fightning drills of infantry from this period, they have had greater tactical flexibility.

Last pair of Mormeg's orcs painted few weeks ago. Really nice miniatures, especially considering that they are made from plastic. I really like varied look of arms and rmors, fantasy look of helmets, torn chainmails. Lotro miniatures are, overall, really nice - even standard rank and file troops. Long gone are times of blocks of identical, poorly animated miniatures from the beginning of 90s, known to Warhammer players. I still have nightmares with these monoblocks of plastic beastmen or Chaos warriors....

Second miniature of 95th. Rifles rifleman circa 1815 year. Miniature and painting were described in detail one note below, so let me concentrate a little more on grass tufts visible on the base. Few months ago I wrote about bad quality of tufts made by Fredericus Rex, it's not different today. One can't even properly compare products of FR to Silflor, difference is so huge. Tufts made by FR looked like some static grass randomly glued to blob of glue. This glue is the base of the tuft - it's really stiff, doesn't soften in water and makes very poor connection to even superglue. Base of the tuft is so stiff really that it makes almost impossible to blend it smoothly with the base of the miniature. It leaves visible gaps between tuft and "ground". After damaging two tufts of FR with glue and having really bad results, I used Silfor tufts... Well, let me tell this - price difference is substantial but You will save on time, patience and nerves. I don't recommend FR products.

Slowly I'm starting to paint miniatures which are - in a way - totally unknown for me as yet - Napoleonic. Few months ago I bought few boxes of British Napoleonic soldiers in 28 mm scale. I don't know yet if this scale will be "the one" I will use though - I'm really interested in "Napoleon at War" ruleset and accompanying range of 15/18 mm miniatures. Rules are relatively simple yet fun and boxed sets of miniatures have rather nice reviews too, which reminds me "Flames of War" business strategy. Well, we will see. Anyway, as the Strategie forum announced second wargaming miniatures painting contest, I decided to paint some 28 mm Napoleonic soldiers, British riflemen to be more precise. I decided to use 95th Rifle Regiment colors (famous, amongst the other things, from the Sharpe movies). Miniature visible next to this note is one of the three I'm painting for this contest. It is from British Napoleonic Light Infantry boxed set by Perry Miniatures. After gluing and painting three figures from this box I have mixed feelings. First - plastic is terrible. It is this slippery kind of plastic which don't hold paint very well (almost at all to be honest). Carefull and numerous basecoating is a must. Mould lines are present and numerous. Usually, they are hidden on some kind of edges etc. but there are quite a few of them running straight through some details. As the miniatures have rather lovely proportions (true 28 mm), details are rather small so cleaning some mould lines is problematic. Quality of cast is... well, not that great. Some details are very soft. I would say it is the quality of plastic miniatures from GW made some 10-12 years ago. Good but nothing causing your jaw to drop on the floor. Miniatures are nicely detailed - buttons, equipment parts, belts, etc. There are only two things missing I think - loops on the shoulders and some cords on the shakos. Lack of this second detail is easily justifable though - it was one of the very first part of the uniform being lost on the campaign.

Some words about painting. White basecoat (painted on three times) with basic shadows and details made visible with Badab Black wash. Uniform was painted with Orkhide Shade color, all black elemets got first coat of Charadon Granite. Then everything was washed with thinned down Badab Black again. Uniform was gradually highlighted with basic color mixed with Codex Grey, highlights on "black" elements were painted on with Codex Grey again. Then, to differentiate between different shades of black visible on original equipment, some parts were washed with black wash again, some were left without it. As the original uniform was rather dark, I decided to use relatively light highlights there. Baker rifle painted accordingly to some great photos found on the Web. Metal ornaments and parts of the equipment were painted with Vallejo Bright Bronze and highlighted with Burnished Gold. Buttons (made from pewter for other ranks) were painted with grey and small white highlight was added later. I painted on missing loops and white (or light grey) lining on uniform too.

48th issue of "Kolekcja wozów bojowych" will cover history and construction of German self propelled gun Panzerhaubitze 2000. Ready-made diecast modle of this vehicle in Bundeswehr colors (1:72 scale) will be bundled with the magazine.

10th issue of "Helikoptery świata" will describe British Westland Lynx helicopter, its army versions to be more precise. Ready-made 1:72 scale diecast model of AH.7 version will be bundled with the magazine.

Very large photo gallery from the latest Monte San Savino Show 2011. Lots of eye candy. Busts, miniatures in different scales, military vehicle models... Looking at some painted busts I think I will try to paint one someday, looks fun indeed.

And last but not least diorama of Kłuszyń battle of 1610. There are many more interesting short articles and photos on author's site too. Photo next to this note is taken from this site. Diorama was built with Zvezda 1:72 miniatures.

And Khorne berzerker of Black Legion one more time - the last for some time I think. This time it was fully assembled and painted in last few days. Miniature itself is taken from the box which I think is one of the earliest plastic mulitpart Chaos Space Marines box - at least 15 years old I think. I'd like to say one thing. GW technology of production of plastic figures is now much, much better. Just look at the leg of the miniature, that one with chain hanging. Large chain links are casted together with armor, with very little hard, defining edges. It looks just like a blob of plastic in some places. No such things in new boxes. Miniature itself... Painted quickly, definitely tabletop level, I became a little bored with it, so I prepared some other miniatures at the same time. I wanted to have coherent look between new miniatures and older ones, so to paint ornaments I used some colors which rarely use nowadays, especially on such large areas - Burnished and Shining Gold by GW.

Mormeg is working hard, painting more orcs for his Mordor army. Just one miniature today but in the next entry dedicated to his miniatures, I will show more of them. An orc with an axe for a time being.

Few weeks ago I wrote about painting last Khorne berzerker built and painted to "almost finished" level few years ago. Well, I lied. Not purposefuly, but still, it was a lie. I've found one more such miniature and managed to paint it yesterday. There was only backpack, shoulder pads, base and some details missing, so it wasn't a lot of work. As it was almost ready to use on the tabletop, I've decided to add some additional Chaos icons. They are not hard to do once one knows how to paint them on the miniature and looks ok I think. I noticed that I paint golden/bronze ornaments in totally different way nowadays too...

This Saturday I will play Wh40k, so it was a time to strenghten my weak Black Legion army with something having more ranged punch then Khorne berzerkers. Painting dreadnought in three weeks is beyond my abilities, so obliterator was chosen instead. One of the three equally bad miniatures - looking at official photos at codex and on GW website at least. In reality miniature is not that bad - but it is not great either. Assembling was major pain in the ass. I spent few hours filing, gluing, working with putty and greenstuff, and - generally - cursing bad fit of arms to the torso. It is not perfect maybe but I couldn't do better. I think that weapons joints are a little too fragile too. I've pinned arms to the torso but it was impossible to do with weapons as joints are very small. So I've deepened montage holes and strenghtened and masked joint with greenstuff. Painting itself was relatively easy - black as main color to fit miniature with rest of my forces, rotten grey color of mutating meat and muscles (color of this part on the official photo is the weakest part of "official" image I think), some bronze and other colors on various pipes and cables. Painting was... slow. Maybe because I wanted to carefully blend all colors on muscles and to not haste with painting. I rather glad final effect, to be honest. It will be touched here and there a little to make some areas better standing out, but I will do it after the game...

Next issue of "Helikoptery świata" will cober one-engine versions of first dedicated assault helicopter of the world - AH-1 Cobra. Ready made die-cast model of AH-1S (1:72 scale) in Israeli colors will be bundled with the magazine.

Final effect of long work of Skavenblight and Kapitan Hak - stunning and beautiful, well worth of effort, table for Karak Zorn (modification of Mordheim home rules). Modular, well thought off, with lots of little suprising details. I think that playing on this table will be a great experience. Photo next to this note stolen from the blog of Skavenblight and Kapitan Hak;)

And now something which made me jelous. Well, almost... I simply admire this work. Very good tutorial on painting Tomb Kings' standard made by Stephen Rath. Well worth a visit even if fantasy is not your cup of tea. Written in German but google translate makes it at least readable. Great webpage, by the way, too.

Games Workshop shows works of Damien Pedley, of whom I've already wrote some time ago. You can find gallery of his Warriors of Chaos, fat hobbit and nice diorama of Imperial Guard here.

And last thing for today - next review of historical vehicle model made by Plastic Soldier Company, made by A View from the Turret. "Workhorse" of German army, Sd.Kfz. 251 armored transport. I can't wait for next Shermans from PSC...

My very limited collection of "Wings of War" model has grown lately. Four new models were bought thanks to sale in one of the Polish webshops liquidating "not so hot" magazine stores in October, selling all "WoW" aircrafts with 50% price reduction. Two new Germans, one Frenchs and one British aircrafts are in my hangar now. Additionally, when I played with my friends last time, I noticed that I've played wrongly interpreting one of the critical rules, so our earlier games were very slow, with limited shooting oppurtunities. Now game is much more furious and bloody....

S.E.5a for a beginning, one of the best British built fighter aircrafts of World War I. Very small and agile, in cool camo. This plane was the most successful in our last game. Model wears colors of the aircraft of major Roderic Stanley Dallas from 40. Squadron of RFC.

This is second new machine, French Breguet BR.14.B2, light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, considered one of the best planes of the war. "B" letter in the name of the model means, that this is light bomber version. Model shows the colors of aircraft of capitaine Hubert de Greiffer and sergeant Auguste Marseille from BR 107. About 150 of such aircraftes served in Polish Air Forces after the WW1.

First new German aircraft - Rumpler C.IV flown by unknown pilot. Typical reconnaissance machine with very high ceiling. Few allied aircrafts were able to fly so high as Rumpler C.IV so this particular plane was serving at the frontline units from 1915 till the end of war. Used by Polish Air Forces after the Great War too.

Last new aicraft is LFG Roland C.II, the only aircraft here armed in just rear facing machine gun. Definitely the worst combat aircraft from these four, bought for scenario driven games. Model wears colors of plane piloted by leutenant Manfred von Richtofen (in later years known as Red Baron) from Kagohl 2/Kasta 8, 1916.